Danse Macabre
by Katkid
Summary: Shizuka was just an average girl, until one day she began to see terrifying images of blood and death. What will happen if these grotesque visions start to come true? What will happen when she discovers the cause behind these horrible premonitions?


**WARNING: **This fiction contains reference to child abuse, strong language and explicit gore.  If any of these things upset or disturb you, I suggest you leave now.  If you have no problem with the aforementioned items, then please, by all means, read on!__

_   It was raining.  It was always raining in her little corner of Hell.  It always began as a light drumming on the rooftop, so very soft and weak it was little more than a drizzle.  Sometimes it would stop there.  That was fine…it meant that at least she, Shizuka, was safe.  Safe from the pain.  Safe from the misery.  Safe from the madman.  Safe._

_   But sometimes, the rain progressed to a steady, percussive pounding.  Sometimes, mommy cried.  Sometimes, it hailed.  Sometimes, daddy yelled.  Sometimes, it was so bad the roof leaked.  Sometimes Katsuya screamed.  And sometimes, it wasn't safe._

_   SMACK!  The sharp sound of flesh hitting flesh struck her ears suddenly, and she winced.  _Was that mommy or Katsuya? _she wondered.  She strained, listening hard over the hammering of the rain.  A woman was crying, so quietly it was nearly inaudible.  Mommy, then._

_            "Bitch," slurred a rough man's voice.  "Fucking won't bed with me, huh?"_

_   Shizuka shivered and chewed her lip.  Tonight wasn't a safe night._

_            "Please, Hiroshi, don't.  Y-you'll wake the children."_

_            "Goddamn it!  They're already fucking awake, bitch!"_

_   A set of slightly unsteady footsteps thundered down the hall and she heard a door open.  Katsuya's door._

_            "You awake, you little fucker?" snarled the man's voice._

_      Her heart skipped a beat when there was no reply.  Maybe if Katsuya didn't wake up, **he** would stop.  She held her breath.  Maybe…._

_            "You goddamned liar!"_

_   She heard a dull thud, followed by a high, boyish shriek.  "See, Umeka?  The damn brat's awake!"  Another thud; another gasp of pain.  Poor Katsuya…._

_            "Hiroshi, stop!"_

_            "Shut up, bitch!"_

_   He would come for her next.  He always did.  She knew, somewhere in the back of her mind that she needed to run away, to get out of that hellhole.  Just get up and run…run until you can't run anymore.  That was all she needed to do.  She was going to do it now.  Now!  NOW!_

_   Her door opened and she quivered from her hiding place beneath the threadbare sheet.  Someday, she would run—but not tonight._

_            "Hey, bitchette!  You're not sleeping; quit hiding under those fucking covers!"_

_   The sheet was whipped away, leaving her exposed and trembling.  The sour stink of liquor burned her nose.  Her stomach churned wildly and she could taste the bile in the back of her throat.  And the rain pummeled the roof, a ceaseless roar.  God, she hated that damned rain so, so much.  All she ever wanted was for it to **stop!**_

_   She opened her eyes, and the madman swung his fist…._

~*~   

   Shizuka woke with a scream and toppled out of her chair to land in an ungraceful heap on the ground.  She lay there, muscles weak, gasping as she gained her bearings.

   Green waterbed…blue-green rug…bookshelves filled with an assortment of knick-knacks and doo-dads…a stack of schoolbooks in the corner…a computer with a Tinkerbell desktop that illuminated the room with its gray-blue glow.  Her room.

   _Why that dream again? _she wondered as she shakily sat up and raked her fingers through her sweat-drenched hair.  Something warm and wet trailed down her face and she caught it on her tongue as it passed her lips.  Salt…she'd been crying in her sleep.

   _He can't hurt me anymore, _she silently told herself.  _He hasn't been able to for ten years…not since the divorce._

   She climbed back into the chair before the computer and rubbed her eyes miserably.  "Why did I have that dream again?" she inquired of Speak No Evil.

   Of course, the little statuette offered no reply as she swept him from his perch atop her computer monitor to set him in his proper place between his siblings Hear No Evil and See No Evil on her bookshelf.

   She stood, admiring the three clay figurines in silence.  Each stood no more than three inches tall, and they were hand-glazed until they glimmered like porcelain.  They were so well crafted and intricately detailed, she was absolutely certain that no other set in the world was quite like them.

_   Ugh, what time is it? _she wondered as she finally turned away from the figurines to glance at her bedside clock.  The green digital numbers glowed bright through the shadowy darkness in the room.  8:15 pm.

   _8:15?  Honda's late.  Maybe I should work on that report that's due next week until he gets here…._

   She made her way back to the computer, but changed her mind before firing up the Word program.  _That's what put me to sleep in the first place, _she thought.  _Besides, the world isn't going to end if I start writing an analysis of _One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest _a day later._

   No sooner had she made this decision than the telephone rang._  It must be Honda, _she thought as she trotted down the hall and picked up the receiver.  _He probably can't make it tonight._

            "Hello?"

            "Hey!"

   Shizuka smiled with delight.  It was easy to recognize her older brother's voice on the telephone.

            "Hi, Katsuya.  How are things back in Domino?"

            "Great, of course.  You looking forward to this weekend?"

            "Of course I am," she responded.  That Saturday would mark the first time Katsuya had been allowed come to visit her and her mother since the divorce.  "We're still picking you up after school, right?"

            "Yeah."  There was a pause before he went on to inquire, "Hey, Honda's not over there, is he?"

   The question took her by surprise, but she replied, "No…not yet.  Why?"

            "Oh…don't worry about it, sis."  Another pause, then, "You know, if he does anything you call me up and I'll beat the snot out of him, OK?"

            "Katsuya, it's not like that at all, and you know it!" Shizuka bit her lip to keep from laughing aloud.  "He's just tutoring me, silly!"

            "I dunno….  I still have a hard time believing that he's any good at math…."

            "Well, then, he's smarter than you think he is."

   He sighed and muttered, "Yeah, I know.  That's what I'm afraid of."

   This time Shizuka did laugh.  "You don't have to be so worried about everything," she insisted through her giggling.  "He's not trying to 'make a move' on me or anything.  Besides, he's your friend, remember?"

            "Well, it's my job to look out for my favorite little sister, isn't it?"

            "I'm your only sister, period."

            "Which makes you all the more important!" he replied.

   She was about to offer a reply when the doorbell rang.  "Uh-oh.  I think Honda's here now, Katsuya.  I'd better get off the phone and let him in."

            "All right…but remember what I told you.  If he does anything, I want to know."

            "OK, fine," she laughed.  "See you Saturday."

   She quickly hung up the phone and raced downstairs to open the front door.  "Sorry about that, Honda; I was on the pho—" she trailed as she caught sight of who…or what…stood on her porch.

   It was Honda—or at least, she thought it was.  His skin was an ugly paste white and his eyes were blank and unseeing.  Blood oozed its way out of a deep gash in his neck that left muscle and sinews exposed.  A mask of blood and vomit covered his face and matted down his hair.  Black-red blotches of dried blood stained the front of his shirt and pants.  But perhaps most shocking of all was his mouth: sewn tightly shut with black thread.

            "Honda…?" she managed to squeak through the lump in her throat as she backed away from the monstrosity of mutilated flesh and blood.  Her legs quivered, weak with horror, and her vision throbbed in and out of focus with her heartbeat.  A loud, mechanical whirring bit through the roaring in her ears, and she tore her gaze off the abomination to glance at the enormous, broken-down grandfather clock that stood in the entryway to the left of the door.

   The old clock had not told time for years; her mother had bought it as a piece of "functional art"; a place to hang visitor's coats or purses for convenience.  But now, the large, rusted hands were spinning around the clock face so fast they were little more than a blur.

   The hands suddenly came to a stop with a click and the clock chimed three: _BONG…BONG…BONG!_

   Shizuka could control it no longer; her world went black as she fell to the ground with a dull thud.

~*~

    She felt as though she was floating through an ocean of dark water that clouded her senses and left her helplessly weak.  Her body rose and fell in swells; great surges of salty, black sea that came in a never-ending rhythm of up…and down….  She groaned miserably as a feeling of nauseating disorientation swept over her as she rolled through the darkness.

   Voices buzzed through her head:  _"No, Hiroshi!"  "Stop, please!"  "Hey…."  "Saturday…."_  Nonsensical snippets of conversations long past.

            _"I think she's coming to, Mrs. K."_

_            "Yes, you're right, Honda."_

   _Honda? _She vaguely wondered, searching her memory for a face to fit the name.  Blue eyes…no, brown—right?  Yes, brown.  Mohawk hair—red…brown.  That was right.  Brown like his eyes.  Pasty white skin…blood everywhere….  _No._

            "No!" Shizuka exclaimed, jerking back to consciousness quite suddenly.

   She found herself immediately engulfed in a pair of soft, vanilla-scented arms.  "Oh, honey, are you all right?"

            "Mom…?" she hesitantly inquired.  "I…."

            "What's the matter, baby?"

   She squeezed her eyes shut and shivered before replying, "N-nothing."

   A sigh came from somewhere to her left and a smooth baritone voice stated, "Well, _that's_ a relief."

            "Honda?"  She twisted in her mother's embrace to lay eyes on the boy and was surprised (but most certainly happy) to see no trace of the horrifying, bloody wounds that had disfigured his tall, lean form.

            "You sure gave us a scare, Shizuka," answered Honda.  "Are you sure you're OK?"

   Shizuka nodded in response, and eyed him nervously, searching for a drop of blood, a bit of dirtied thread, anything that might serve as proof that the terrible mutilations she had seen had existed—and found nothing.

   Her mother gave her an extra squeeze before releasing her and declaring in a most business-like way, "All right then, Honda.  I think tonight's tutoring session can wait until next week.  You're probably anxious to get back to Domino anyways, so you're free to go."  She paused a moment before adding, "And don't worry about your pay for tonight; we'll be paying you in full."

            "Oh, it's not that big of a deal," Honda insisted as he was herded towards the door.  "You really don't have to worry about it."

            "No, no, no!" came the vehement reply.  "Let's not be silly about this, now.  Your time is every bit as valuable as anybody else's, isn't it?"

            "Well…all right then.  Whatever you say."  Honda snatched his coat from where it hung from the old grandfather clock as he was nearly pushed out the door.  "See you next week, Shizuka!" he managed to shout around Mrs. Kawai as she closed the door behind him.

   With Honda adequately managed, Mrs. Kawai turned her full attention to her daughter.  "Are you absolutely, 100 percent positive that you're all right?" she demanded.

   Shizuka nodded and whispered, "Yes," though her eyes were locked on the grandfather clock.  _Did I imagine it all? _She wondered as she examined the hands (frozen, as always at 6:32) for any sign of movement.

            "In that case, I want you heading to bed right now."

            "Yeah…all right," came the distracted reply as Shizuka stood staring at the clock with absolutely no indication that she had heard her mother's request.

   Mrs. Kawai sighed irritably and repeated, "Upstairs!  Bed!  Now!  Go!"

   Shizuka abruptly snapped out of her trance and hurried up the stairs to the sanctuary of her bedroom.  _It was nothing, _she told herself as she changed into her pink flannel pajamas with shaking hands.  _Just a trick of the light.  That's what it must have been…._

            "I didn't see a thing," she affirmed aloud to Speak No Evil, Hear No Evil and See No Evil.  The figurines gazed back at her from their shelf in silent acquiescence.

   With that benedictory phrase, she clicked off the light and curled up in bed.

~*~

   Tuesday morning dawned cool and gray with a light, persistent drizzle.  Shizuka woke hours early and, after several minutes of tossing and turning, resigned herself to getting up and out of bed with the sun.  She gasped and shivered with surprise as her feet met something icy cold and wet that soaked her bedroom floor.

   _What…?_  She darted a glance around her room and discovered that her window was wide open, the sash up as far as it could possibly go.  _I don't remember leaving that open.  Did it get blown open in the night?  How could that happen? _she wondered.  A chill gust of wind blew a barrage of raindrops into the room as she stood pondering, and she hastily latched the window shut tight.

   _Now what?  I've got a good two hours before school starts…guess I'll head downstairs and get some breakfast, _she decided.  _It's not like I've got anything better to do like _sleep, _at 5:00 in the morning…._

   _I'd better bring the paper in while I'm at it, _she thought as she tiptoed down the stairs.  _Mom'll have a conniption if I don't._

   That much determined, she quietly opened the front door and snatched the soggy newspaper off the front porch.  _Well, _that's _quality, _she disgustedly thought as bits of the front page disintegrated at her touch.  She carefully began to peel the front page off the mass of sodden paper.  _You'd think they would at least stick it in a plastic sack or—OH MY GOD!_

   All feelings of disdain towards the paperboy or ideas of breakfast were driven from her mind when she saw the top news item of the day.  There, in bold black and white print were the words, _Homicide in Domino.  _And below, in smaller (but by no means any less noticeable) type, _Resident teen found dead at home._

   However, it was not the headline that held her attention.  She was focused entirely on the picture that went with the article: a photograph of a grinning, brown-eyed boy with a very recognizable Mohawk—Honda Hiroto.

   Shizuka skimmed the article, frantically searching for any indication that there had been some kind of mistake.  A horrible, awful, stupid mistake…that was what it _had_ to be!  _Honda's not dead…I just saw him last night!  No way he could be….  _But the article only confirmed the fact.  Honda Hiroto was deceased.

   _W-wait a second, _she thought as her vision clouded with tears.  She browsed the article a second time.  _Throat cut…estimated time of death—three o'clock…mouth sewn shut?  _"Did I see it?" she whispered.  With trembling hands, she opened the paper to read the continuation inside…and promptly dropped it on the floor in horror.

   There, staring back at her from the sea of print was another very familiar face.  Short, red-brown hair; laughing, mischievous eyes; smiling mouth hidden behind two porcelain hands…Speak No Evil.  And beneath it, a caption, _Found at the scene of the crime._

   She thundered back upstairs, leaving the paper a mess on the floor.  _I have to know…I have to know, _she thought as she reached her room and flipped on the light.

   Hear No Evil sat in his place at the left of the shelf, and See No Evil was in her place at the right.  But between them, a gap.  Speak No Evil was missing.

   _It was mine.  That was _my _Speak No Evil!_

~*~

   Shizuka shuddered and struggled to breathe around the lump that had settled in her throat.  _Please, Katsuya, hurry, _she silently pleaded.  _I can't take this.  Being here…and…._

   She glanced out the van window and choked back a sob.  Her older brother stood huddled with a small group of friends, each looking dazed to some extent at the prospect of one of their own having departed.  _Today wasn't supposed to be like this.  We were supposed to be having fun…not going to a f…fu….  _She could barely bring herself to think the terrible word.  _Funeral._

   Anzu Mazaki took Katsuya's hand in hers and gave it a gentle squeeze as Shizuka watched.  Shizuka could easily imagine what Anzu was saying to her brother; "Are you going to be all right?  Call if you need to talk about this, OK?"  Always the mother hen; always worried about her friends.  _How can she hold up so well after this? _Shizuka wondered as Katsuya began to make his way to the van.

            "Sorry for holding you guys up," he quietly stated as he climbed into his seat.

            "No need to apologize, honey," Mrs. Kawai gently responded.  "Are you ready to go?"

   Katsuya nodded and turned to stare out the window to hide the tears in his eyes.

   _I could have _done _something, _Shizuka miserably thought.  _I could have stopped it…somehow….  Why did this have to happen?  He never did anything to deserve it!  Why—_

   Her train of thought came to a screeching halt as the church bells chimed, loud and mournful—_CLANG…CLANG!_

   _Only two?  That's not right._

   She turned around in her seat, straining to see out the back window as they turned a corner, and was rewarded with a most grotesque sight; for there, standing before the church was a walking corpse.  Its neck was covered with a hideous marbling of angry black bruises, and its bloodshot eyes goggled and stared.  Its face was pale, sickly white, and its lips were tinged blue.  Its ears were missing, and blood bubbled from the two identical wounds on either side of its head to plaster its hair against its scalp in a foul mess.  _Anzu._

   Shizuka whipped back around in her seat with a horrified gasp and clapped her hands over her eyes.  _No, no, NO!  I didn't see that!  I didn't!_

   Her mother's voice broke through her panicked denial, "Are you all right, dear?"

   _Tell them!  Say something!  They can help you; they can stop it….  _"Y-yes.  I'm just...I can't...."

            "I understand, sweetie."  Pause.  "Cry if you need to; it will help."

   _No…can't do that.  I have to tell them right now.  Can't…cry…yet….  _"I…I…."  But that was as far as she made it before her voice became a choked whimper and the hot tears began to spill down her cheeks.  She sobbed and buried her face in her hands as she felt her brother's arms around her in a fierce bear hug.  _I can't do it…._

   The day passed in a colorless blur of tears and misery.  It seemed as though only minutes had elapsed since the end of the funeral service when it came time for Shizuka to go off to bed.

            "It's nothing," she insisted to Hear No Evil and Speak No Evil as she pulled on her pajamas.  "I didn't see anything because…because there was nothing there to see.  Nothing is going to happen."

   The figurines looked on wordlessly as she crossed the room and double-checked her window to be completely sure that it was indeed locked tight before shutting off her light and crawling into bed.  The persistent rhythm of the rain tapping against her window lulled her into a deep, dreamless sleep.

~*~

_            "…Deep in the dark_

_            You'll surrender your heart_

_            But you know,_

_            But you know that you…can't fight the moonlight…."_

   Shizuka jerked awake as her clock radio blared away.  _What…? _she groggily wondered.  _What's going on?_

            _"…No, you can't fight it_

_            No matter what you do_

_            The night is gonna get to you…."_

   _Oh no!  _She hastily shut the alarm off, condemning the synthesized violin solo to silence.  _I didn't know that was turned on, _she thought, listening sheepishly for any sign that the alarm had woken her mother or brother.  She breathed a sigh of relief upon hearing none and thought, _I might as well get up now that I'm awake._

   The rug was soaked and it squished against her bare feet as the icy water flooded up and over her toes.  The window was once again wide open, framed by drenched curtains that hung limp against the wall.  _No…._

   She whirled around to face her bookshelf, eyes desperately searching for two glimmering statuettes and found only one.  Hear No Evil was conspicuously absent, but in his place…_Is…is that an envelope?_

   Her heart pounded in her ears as she shuffled across the room and seized the small white envelope.  She turned the tiny package over in her hands, warily eying its bulging sides, too afraid to open it right away.

   _Somebody's been breaking into my room, _she slowly thought, her gaze never wavering from the parcel in her hands.  _Somebody's been stealing from me.  Somebody's killed Honda.  But now, Somebody left me something they want me to see.  Do I want to make Somebody happy?  Do I want to see what Somebody left for me?_

_   What if Somebody slipped up?  What if this is a clue that might tell me who Somebody is?  I've got to open it._

Her hands trembled as she began to tear the paper open.  "Do it now," she whispered to herself.  "Before you lose your nerve."  _Riiiiiip!  _In one fluid motion, she tore the envelope open.

   Something small fell to the floor, and she jumped, and then laughed in nervous relief when she noticed it was nothing more than a wad of tissue.  _This is just my good friend Somebody messing with me, _she thought, taking the harmless ball of crumpled tissue in her hands.  _Just trying to scare me, that's all._

"It's not working," she announced.  "I'm not afraid."  She began tearing the tissue to bits.  "You're wasting your time."  _Rip.  _"Why don't you just leave me alone?"  _Rip.  _"I'm getting tired of these games."  _Rip.  _"Get a new hobby."  _Rip.  _"Because this one is pretty lame." _Plop._

   Shizuka hissed in surprise as something the color of a ripe peach fell to the floor.  Her ears rang with fright, but she bit back her fear and gingerly picked up what had fallen on the floor.  It was an odd shape, but soft and cool against her palm.  She examined the object she held in her hand and suddenly realized with numbing horror what it was: a human ear.

   Sour bile leapt to the back of her throat, and she furiously hurled the severed ear at her window.  _God no, _she thought as she leapt to her feet and thundered down the stairs.  _Please.  _She yanked the front door open and swept the soggy newspaper off the porch.  _No, no, no, no, no...GOD DAMN IT!_

   _Second Teen Found Brutally Murdered in Domino.  _Shizuka took a deep, shaky breath as the world blurred and spun around her before going on to read the sub-head.  _Community mourns the loss of Anzu Mazaki.  _She scanned the article, knowing deep within herself what it would say.

   "_…cause of death: strangulation; body mutilated—ears missing _(_Well, I know where _those _went, _she bitterly thought, fighting back a wave of nausea at the recollection.)_; estimated time of death: 2:00 am; Hear no Evil figurine discovered at scene."_

   Of course, there were some surprises in the article as well.  _"…the two deaths most definitely connected; the work of a madman; "She was such a sweet girl, a real role model"; serial killer on the loose…."_

            "You sick freak," Shizuka snarled.  "You sick, sick freak…leave me the hell alone!"  She hoped that Somebody heard her and cringed.

~*~

            "I'm ready to go home."

   Shizuka paused, soupspoon halfway to her mouth.  "What?"

            "I'm ready to go home."  Spoken in the same subdued, quiet voice that sounded nothing like her brother's usually animated tone.  "I'm already packed."  There was a painful silence as Shizuka slowly replaced the soupspoon to her bowl.  Katsuya sighed brokenly and half-whispered, "I'm sorry."

            "No, honey, it's all right," their mother gently replied.  "We understand, don't we, Shizuka?"

   Shizuka felt her eyes sting with tears as she wordlessly inclined her head.  _It's not fair.  Why is all of this happening to us?  I…I've got to tell him…to warn him about….  _"Katsuya?"  She winced.  Her voice sounded high and thin, forced.  "Can we…can I talk to you before you go?  I need to tell you something."

   He shuddered and pretended to wipe his mouth with his napkin to hide the tear that slid down his cheek.  Shizuka lowered her eyes to her untouched bowl of soup and pretended not to notice.  Finally, he replied, "Yeah…sure, sis."

   Their mother gave his shoulder a gentle squeeze and whispered, "I'll drive you home as soon as we finish dinner."

   Katsuya nodded and aimlessly stirred his soup.

   The remainder of the dinner was quiet.  There were no attempts at starting a conversation, and the three of them picked half-heartedly at their food.  Shizuka excused herself from the table before dessert and dragged herself upstairs, to her room.  Moments later, there was a knock on the door.

            Her brother's voice came to her through the door, "Shizuka?"

            "Come in, Katsuya."

   The doorknob turned.  "What did you want to tell me?"  The door opened.

   _No!  _

   Shizuka stifled a scream of frustration.  Katsuya stood before her, body brutally ravaged and mutilated.  Blood streamed from three gaping holes in his chest.  His lips and chin were coated with gore and the flesh on his arms was torn and hung in grotesque strips around his exposed bones.  His eye sockets were empty holes that wept a revolting dark liquid.

   There was an electrical buzzing to her right and she spared a glance at her clock radio to see the numbers flashing red, 1:00 am.  _No._

She blinked back tears of disbelief, anger, defeat and all was restored to normal.

            "Hey, are you all right?"

   _No.  _"Yes."

            "What did you want to tell me, sis?"

   Shizuka sighed.  _Would it make any difference?  _"Just…just that you're the best big brother in the world.  I love you."  _I'll miss you._

            "I love you, too."

   She heard the jingling of keys outside her door and their mother announced, "All right, Katsuya, I'm ready to take you home now."

            "'Bye, Shizuka.  See you later."

   _No, you won't.  _"Goodbye," she whispered after him.

   Shizuka waited until the sound of her mother's car faded away before stalking across the room to glare up at the shelf.  See No Evil sneered back at her, hands over her eyes, laughing, accusing, leering….

            "I won't let you have him," she whispered as she took the cold clay figurine in her hands.  "I won't let you take him away!"  She hurled the figurine against the wall, and it shattered and fell to the floor in a jumble of painted clay shards.  "You can't take him.  Not him."

   She locked the window and barred it as best she could.  _I won't lose him._  Outside, hailstones and rain battered against the glass.

~*~

   _What should I do?  What _can _I do?  When will all this stop?  Please, please let this torture stop!_

_   The rain beats on my window and I scream.  The rain, the rain it brings the madman.  He's coming to _get_ me._

_            "Wake up, you fucker!"_

_   Oh God why is this happening to me?_

_            "You goddamned lying son of a bitch!"_

_   Stop it, stop it, STOP IT!  Tears dribble down bloody cheeks and the madman laughs._

_            "Shut up, bitch!"_

_   Mommy, save me!  Please, mommy, make it STOP!_

~*~

   Shizuka woke with a gasp, heart pounding wildly.  She buried her face in her hands, willing her muscles to relax and her breathing to return to normal.  It was early; very, very early.  The sun was only just beginning to peek above the horizon, though its rays were blotted and choked by thick gray clouds that allowed only colorless gray light to filter through them.  Shizuka turned to look at her clock.

   _4:00.  Too early.  Go back to sleep, _she thought as she shifted to lie on her other side.  She began to allow her eyes to slide closed, but stopped.  Something was wrong.  Something was terribly wrong.

   _What…why…I'm wet, _she realized.  She patted her arms, her face, her hair and deduced that she was not only wet, she was completely soaked.

   She threw her covers back and stepped into a puddle of rainwater that had soaked into her floor.  _Oh, no.  No.  _The window was open.

   Stomach bucking wildly, she hurried across the room, hoping desperately to find the shards of the destroyed See No Evil figurine where she had left them.  They were missing.

   _No!  _Her stomach rebelled and sour-sweet bile leapt into her mouth.  She raced out of her bedroom and down the hall to the bathroom, making it only just in time before the vomit forced its way out.  She waited until her insides stopped dancing before she turned to the mirror and _saw._

   She was covered with a horrible black-red substance.  It took a moment for her shocked mind to realize that it was undeniably blood, and longer still for her to understand _whose _blood it most certainly had to be.

   She ripped off her tainted pajamas and flung them on the floor with a sob, and hurriedly stripped off her soaked undergarments before turning on the shower.  She watched in stupefied fascination as the blood ran off her body in pink streams and bubbled down the drain.  She snatched a washrag off the rack and scrubbed her skin hard, until it hurt.  But still, she could feel that dirty, disgusting, repulsive substance coating her body.  

   Finally, after the water ran ice cold, she felt adequately cleansed.  She plucked a towel from the rack and dried herself before stepping out of the shower and returning to her bedroom.  She closed the window, but refrained from locking it.  Her hands shook too badly to manage to lock.  She dressed herself, then rummaged through her bookshelf until she found the volume that she wanted.  With a terrified sigh, she sat on her bed and opened the book to its first page and began to read: "In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth…."

~*~

   She had been read the Bible for several hours when the knock on the front door came.  She rose from her bed and numbly descended the stairs.  As she passed by the mirror that hung in the hall, she received a terrible shock.

   She saw herself, utterly destroyed; a mass of bone and tissue; a walking abomination…not just dead, but demolished, obliterated.  With a wordless cry, she dropped the Bible.  The heavy volume landed open-faced and a single verse burst into shockingly bright flame:

            _"Do no evil, so shall no harm come to thee…."_

_                                                                        —7.1_

   The knocking came again, breaking through the buzzing in her head.  The fire extinguished itself as quickly as it had appeared, and Shizuka raced to the door and pulled it open.

   A police officer stood framed in the door, surprise evident in his features.  He raised his eyebrows and cleared his throat before announcing, "Miss Shizuka Kawai, you are under arrest for the murders of Honda Hiroto, Anzu Mazaki and Katsuya Jounouchi.  Anything you say can and will be used against you in the court of law—"

            "W…what?  I didn't—" she cut herself off with a gasp.

   _Blood, scream, save me momma, die, kill, rain, hail, laugh, "goddamn liar!" Why? No!  Stop. Kill!  Madman, pain, death, KILL!_

   She didn't notice the handcuffs click around her wrist, and she didn't feel the drizzling rain against her face as she was led down the driveway and to the waiting police car.

   _Bless me Father, for I have sinned…._

   Only one thing was firmly cemented in her mind.

   _Do no evil…._

One thing that she knew above all else: _They're going to kill me at 7:01._

   Away she rode, through the suburbs and into town.

   _It's raining, it's pouring…._

To the police station.

   _Kill._

Up the stairs.

_   Die._

Inside.

   _Run._

To the desk.

   _RUN!_

She broke free and ran, the primal fear for survival beating in her brain.  There were yells and screams behind her, but they were muddled together into an incoherent roar as she hurtled down the hall.  _They're going to kill me at 7:01…just like the verse says._

   She cast a desperate glance behind her shoulder, and hit the window full force.  The glass cracked and shattered and she fell head-over-heels through the empty frame with a feral scream.

   Down she fell, down, down, down, the wind buffeting her hair and assaulting her cheeks.  Ten stories down, to land headfirst on the sidewalk below.

~*~

            "Christ.  Isn't that something?"

            "Yeah.  Yeah, it is, Sonoda," replied officer Watanabe as he peered out the window to the grisly scene below.  "You say she was the one who…?"

            "Yes.  Yes, it was her.  Killed two of her brother's friends before killing him."

   Officer Watanabe shivered and looked away from the scene.  "She just threw herself out the window?"

            "I already told you, yes.  The minute we got here, at 7:00.  7:01, actually."

            "What was her name again?"

            "Uh…Kawai.  Shizuka Kawai."

**Author's Notes: **Heh….  Wow.  I don't know where this one came from.  I was originally going to enter this into Chibizoo's contest, but I didn't think it would fit the requirements (and I didn't finish it in time!).  I know I probably don't have the right names for Shizuka and Katsuya's parents.  I didn't know them, so I used my artistic license to come up with names for them.  The same applies for Shizuka's last name.  I'm also aware that Shizuka probably isn't Christian, but for the sake of the story, I decided to write her as such.  Artistic license strikes again!  Well, if you've stuck with this thing all the way to this point, congratulations!  Thank you for reading and please tell me what you think.

Yu-gi-oh! and all its wonderful characters do not belong to me.  I only like to borrow them on occasion!


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